Sampling (Tracing) - CI/CD Glossary Definition

Sampling records only a portion of traces to limit cost, and can decide up front (head sampling) or after seeing the full trace (tail sampling).

Sampling keeps only a fraction of traces to control cost and volume while preserving representative data. It can be decided at the start of a request (head) or after it completes (tail).

Head vs tail

Head sampling decides at the trace's start, so it is cheap but blind to outcome. Tail sampling waits until the trace finishes, letting you keep all errors and slow requests at higher storage cost.

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